When I was a teenager, Chip Vaughan was my best friend.  We grew up in the same area of Atlanta and were a part of the same church.  Chip later went on to play basketball for the University of Georgia.  He finished law school and eventually came back to manage Brand Vaughan Lumber Company.  He has been an outstanding Christian leader and has a great heart for God.  We have had a friendship that was rooted in our walk with the Lord.  Through the years He has always been a great source of encouragement and a model for me.  We don’t talk much.  In fact, I probably have not talked with him in a couple of years, but there is something about a friendship that is rooted in the Lord.

He left me a voice mail yesterday telling me that his dad had passed away.  Cy Vaughan was an outstanding man.  He loved the Lord and was always a great source of encouragement to me.  I was telling the staff about him yesterday and Jonathan Bright asked me what made him special to me as a friend’s father.  Three things came to mind.  He set the foundation early.  Even when I was a kid, I knew he was a man of faith, integrity, and character.  With our parents, Chip and I knew where the lines were and we knew what was expected.  Secondly, he was a great encouragement.  I could always talk to Mr. Vaughan and he always made you feel that you were special.  Thirdly, he was very consistent in every area of his life.  You could set your watch by him and he was a wonderful model.

Chip is an only child.  Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan did a great job in raising him and he has been a wonderful example of how we as Christians should honor our parents.  As a kid, I was fortunate to have him as a friend and to be under the influence of Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan.  I am blessed with great parents, but always tell people that you should pray that God will bring others into your children’s lives that will reinforce what you are trying to teach them.  Cy and Jean Vaughan did that for me.

As soon as I got his message yesterday, it was as if I had talked to him recently.
The Lord gave us that type of friendship.  That is the type of friendship that only the Lord can provide.